Sunday, April 1, 2012

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is
monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's
company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it
seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious
e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading
other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security
officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers-
not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty
joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages,
he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being
entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

Attachments is absolutely delightful! I immediately warmed to this
quirky novel full of loveable characters, unusual circumstances and nostalgic
references. Heart warming, romantic and utterly grin-invoking, there’s
nothing not to love about Attachments.

This novel was funny, clever, cute and a joy to read. The
characters of the two women came across so well from their emails and
Lincoln was such a
fabulous character to root for. Pining away for his high school sweetheart for
the last nine years, I couldn’t help wanting to kick him into gear, but
Lincoln grew to realize change was necessary on his own so I didn’t have
to invent a way to teleport back a dozen years to an imagined time and place to
kick his ass. His gradual transition was believable and immensely enjoyable to
read.

I found Attachments really nostalgic. In 1999, I was in my
mid-twenties, close to the age of the characters and I immediately related to
the time period and all the pop culture and nostalgic references as well as the
anti-climactic Y2K New Year’s Eve. I also related to the two women and
their lives in emails because I too lived my life in emails during this time.
Long drawn out conversations with girlfriends took place and I cringe to think
of what the ‘email filters’ spewed out of my inbox. It wasn’t
a stretch at all for me to believe you could get to know someone via their
emails, especially back in the day of long drawn out ‘novels’ like
those I used to write my girlfriends.

I actually had to Google a Star Wars reference because I
didn’t believe that the follow up movie, or prequels came out in 1999.
Yes, I have no fondness for Star Wars, have not even seen the three recent
installments, but of course I knew the reference and was shocked to find all
copy editing correct and bamboozled by how quickly time has passed. I was also
surprised by how many of the geekish references in this novel I knew and
giggled at and appreciated. I never would have thought I would be rooting for a
Dungeons and Dragons playing, Star Wars loving creature. But I was. But
then again, I love The Big Bang Theory, so maybe I shouldn’t have been
surprised.

Both men and women will enjoy this lighthearted romantic
tale. I really want this to be a movie, but I don’t think it would come
across well especially with almost all the interaction between the two women
taking place via email. Attachments will appeal to the romantic geek in
everyone as well as everyone who came of age during the invention of
the internet. I loved every word and will definitely be reading more from
Rainbow Rowell.